Tragedy as three dead and 2 in critical condition after 'carbon monoxide present in car'

The presence of carbon monoxide was confirmed in a parked vehicle in Toledo, Ohio, where five people were found unresponsive and three of them died Wednesday in what an official described as an accident. The Ford Explorer had pulled over with a flat tyre into a parking lot, and the victims were discovered shortly after 11am local time, Toledo Fire Chief Allison Armstrong said.

City of Toledo spokesperson Rachel Hart said the victims included a grandmother and her grandchildren. She said the woman’s son who had been called to help found the bodies. Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz said foul play was not suspected. He said three of the victims died while two children were hospitalised in critical condition. Their names, ages and hometowns weren’t immediately released.

“Today, a family experienced a tragedy that no family should ever have to endure,” the mayor said on Facebook.

Investigators later started the vehicle with the doors closed and a metre inside. In a telephone interview with AP, Armstrong said, “we had a high spike of carbon monoxide inside the passenger compartment on that vehicle.”

She said the vehicle was towed by police.

“They’re going to have to do some further investigation to see if they can identify how does that happen,” she said.

“I think that’s an important piece of this that people want to know, and they should know for everybody’s safety.”